Path to Transcendence

Chapter 266: Enjoy the Show

Julius couldn’t help but appreciate the man’s attempt. If it was anyone else, they would not have noticed the approaching Tier 4. The woman had concealed her presence very well and once again [Spatial Perception] saved his life.

As soon as his blade of mana crashed into the woman, he instantly manipulated it so that it flowed over his body, into a set of armor.

The woman had exceptional reflexes and managed to intercept the attack with her crossguard just in time, sending her rolling off to the side.

He didn’t go after her. He could already tell that this woman was different than the legless man he had just beaten.

Whereas the man had focused on speed and evasion, this woman was a typical warrior. She was still fast but also had the strength and fortitude to go along with it. Her ambush had shown that she was both quicker and stronger than him, even with his new skill, which was saying a lot.

He took the time to examine the woman in depth. There was no way to know for certain, but his gut was telling him that this woman was stronger than the Tier 4 he had just fought.

Her aura wasn’t even affected by his aura. It stood steadfast in the face of its ruinous effects. Her Authority also had a much more hefty weight to it. While not as subtle, it pummeled into him and it took a significant amount of willpower to hold it at bay.

As he assessed the woman, she did the same to him. But she also looked down at her colleague with disdain.

“You let a Tier 3 beat you down this bad? What are you? Some fledgling Tier 4 who doesn’t know his ass from his blade?”

“Shut up, Lyn. Don’t underestimate him. He’s dangerous,” the man groaned, still on the ground, desperately consuming a healing potion.

Julius frowned, he didn’t know how much a potion would do for the man’s legs.

The woman, Lyn, still didn’t attack and gave Julius a curious tilt of her head. “How are you able to hold off my Authority so easily?” She asked barely retraining her bloodthirsty aura.

“I wouldn’t say it’s easy,” he replied, keeping a close eye on the woman. He was more than fine with her talking because it allowed him to get a better measure of her.

“Certainly seems so,” she said as she ramped up her Authority pressing it more tyrannically onto him.

Julius took it on straight on and gritted his teeth as he fought against it, noticing the woman’s growing smile as she watched him hold her back.

“Be careful of his aura skill,” the man suddenly called out.

However, as he spoke, the woman stopped using her Authority to pressure him and turned around to kick the man in the face. The man’s head snapped back and started to bleed from his forehead. Weirdly enough, the man didnʼt seem that shocked to be kicked.

“Shut up. You lost, so now you can just sit there and be quiet. I don’t need any help from someone who gets their legs cut off by a Tier 3.”

Then she turned back to look at Julius who had a surprised look on his face. “Sorry about that. He is a good assassin, but honestly, he is pretty shit in a real fight. All he knows to do is to stab people in the back and run away,” she said with scorn.

Then she switched her full attention to him, pointing her longsword at him with a steady arm.

“Let’s hope you are different.”

Julius tilted his head at her and held up his arms loosely by his sides. “I guess weʼll see.”

***

Rolus POV

He slung his sword to the side, removing the remaining blood from its surface.

Those two Tier 4s while decently strong, weren’t anything close to his level. It was unfortunate that he wasn’t able to finish off that mage though. They had managed to retreat while he was finishing off that warrior.

The good news was that the mage wouldn’t be a problem for the rest of the battle. Rolus had inflicted his blood magic on the poor mage and unless he found a top-grade healer quickly, they would barely be able to move for the time being if he even survived that is.

He stepped over the body which he had cut into two pieces. The body itself was dry as a bone, the blood within was almost completely drained of it.

He then dropped to one knee and removed the man’s storage ring, pocketing it for further inspection later. He didn’t really care much for the valuables inside the ring, but he was much more interested in what kind of clues or information he could gain.

While he doubted the man was stupid enough to leave everything inside his ring, there were other ways to find information. Most people would be surprised by what a single innocuous item could tell him about a person.

As he caught his breath and recovered from the fight, he took a look around the plains. It was still nighttime, but with how many fights going on, the sky was quite bright. Flashes of colorful mana filled the area and the screams of people filled the air.

The sheer amount of blood was what got his attention though. There was so much blood around him, that he couldn’t help but try and control it.

He wasn’t a mage by any means, but his blood affinity allowed him to have pretty good control of blood in general. He wasn’t like his sister who was able to create a storm of bloody constructs, but being present within such a rich environment, he couldn’t help but bring some of the blood toward himself.

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With an extension of his Authority he gained control of the blood and managed to draw it through his skin. The blood seeping into him like it was water in the dry desert.

The rest of the wounds and fatigue were recovered in a matter of moments, barely costing him any mana for it. While most of the blood was only Tier 3 blood, there was such volume that it didn’t matter.

He sighed pleasantly as the usual euphoric sensation surged through his body and he fully recovered back to his peak form.

Battlefields really are blood usersʼ greatest allies, he thought to himself with a shake of his head.

He took a general count of the casualties of the battle. As expected from some of the best Tier 3s, they managed to handle themselves pretty well.

Most of the bodies belonged to the other side, while a smaller number from their side. One team in particular was quite impressive.

Matt Leuger’s team was slaughtering their way through the other Tier 3s with such efficiency that it gave him pause. The leader himself was quite a threat on his own. He was at the pinnacle of Tier 3 and could advance any day if Rolus was sensing correctly, only a half step away from forming his own Authority.

However, the other members of his team were extraordinary as well. They had that acid mage, Pamela who was wreaking havoc on the poor sods who decided to ambush them. Half of the time she didn’t even bother to kill them, her acid ate through most of their body parts, rendering them useless in the fight.

Their tank was quite impressive too. Beck, was his name if Rolus recalled correctly.

He did everything a team wanted in a good tank. He was extremely aggressive and could take a beating if his half-destroyed armor was any indication. He must have had over a dozen Tier 3s trying to kill him just by himself.

Luckily, he had a healer who was overseeing his health and who had quite an impressive arsenal of healing skills. Of course, this made her quite the attractive target for the enemies which was why she had three people dedicated to protecting her at all times.

Seeing that they were handling themselves well, he decided to go help the other teams who were in more dire straights. He empowered the blood within his veins with [Draconic Blood], his legendary skill, and blitzed toward his allies, slaughtering any enemy within reach.

As he alleviated the pressure on the rest of the teams, he also simultaneously started to search for the boy House Easten sent them.

After searching the vicinity, he started to get a little nervous. Where is he? He thought to himself, trying to remain calm and extending his senses as far as he could. While perception has never been his greatest strength, he had committed the boy’s aura to memory, thus it was worrying that he wasn’t sensing it at all.

Did he get killed? Rolus couldn’t help but think about a very possible result. The boy had been supposed to take on the other Tier 4s and while he was admittedly stronger than Rolus expected when he first met him, he still didn’t think he could hold off a Tier 4 for that long. It was a huge reason why he had rushed to finish off his enemies.

Understanding that he had to switch things up, he started to focus on the most powerful and outstanding fights. Once he did that, he immediately found another Tier 4 and while he had no idea if this was Julius or not, he still ran toward it.

When he got there, he could only stare in astonishment and watch as a Tier 3 boy was slugging it out with another Tier 4.

Just the shockwaves as they smashed into each other would have harmed other Tier 3s.

The opposing Tier 4 wasn’t any pushover either. She was stronger than the ones Rolus had just beaten and much more skilled. She had a simple but merciless way of swordfighting, everything was clean and without wasted movement.

Very similar to his own style.

The real surprise was the boy, Julius who was enveloped in a blue aura that pulsed heavily after each movement and gave off a very dangerous feeling even from this distance.

He was way too fast and strong to be a Tier 3. His Tier 3 body enhancement skill must have been extraordinary because it allowed the boy to exchange blow after blow.

The woman slashed a devastating overhead blow and rather than dodge it, the boy managed to block it with an insanely sturdy barrier of mana over his forearm, countering with a strike that smashed into the woman’s equally sturdy defenses.

Even though Rolus wanted nothing more than to watch this fight, he was about to jump in and help the boy. Not that the boy seemed to need his help that much.

Just as he was making his move, he felt the boy’s aura reach out to him and he turned to look at Rolus. The boy’s eyes flashed a crimson red as he gave a severe glare at him. There werenʼt any actual words said, but the meaning was clear.

Back off.

Despite their situation, Rolus couldn’t help but chuckle at the audacity of the boy. However, he could respect it.

So Rolus decided to honor the boy’s wishes and hold back. Instead, he focused his attention to the person he saw observing the fight off in the distance, dressed in clothes so black, they blended into the darkness.

When he got closer to the person, he saw the pitiful situation he was in. He wasn’t in danger of dying, he must have used some kind of healing potion or item to fix him up, but he was still quite injured.

Somehow he had gotten both of his legs removed and his aura was a mess. As a matter of fact, it took Rolus much too long to realize that this person was a Tier 4. He was in such bad shape that he had believed him to be a Tier 3.

Did someone else do that? Or did the boy take down this Tier 4 beforehand as well? Rolus inwardly frowned.

However, a quick glance at where the boy was trading blow for blow with the strong Tier 4 gave more credence to the latter of the options.

Rolus quickly took out the enchanted restraints that House Easten had loaned him and went over to the man.

The man seeing him approach, tried his best to get away and teleported away. However, the skill only had a limited distance and didnʼt seem to be working properly.

Rolus quickly caught up with him. But was quickly annoyed when the guy teleported away once more.

I hate assassins, he grumbled as he chased the guy once he sensed him again.

Thankfully, the guy’s skill was on cooldown and Rolus was able to use his blood magic to hold the man in place. Since the man’s aura and Authority was in such a mess, it was easy for him to gain control.

He then placed the shackles on the man and watched as the activated with a surge of mana. The shackles were an expensive item and they showed why when they wiped out everything technique the man had been holding onto.

All of his mana was rendered useless and with his aura in its current state, it was even worse.

Rolus then dragged the legless man back to where Julius and the Tier 4 woman were slugging it out and dropped him like a sack of potatoes. He then sat on the legless man, ignoring the groaning complaint and watched the fight unravel, ready to intervene at any moments notice.

He didn’t forget that these people belonged to the group that had killed many of his friends in their past attacks and while he would give the boy his well-earned chance, he wouldn’t hesitate to step in if it looked like it was getting out of control. But for now, he would just enjoy the show.